California Planning Energy Future Without San Onofre

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California lawmakers want to know how the state is going to make up for the loss of a major electricity source. A State Senate committee will hold a hearing on the issue tomorrow.

The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station was the largest source of electricity for Southern California. But the plant is permanently closing after a series of maintenance and safety problems. Stephanie McCorkle is with California’s Independent System Operator which oversees the state’s power grid. She says the decision to shutter the plant will let the state move on.

“We can focus on identifying the ideal resources mix to replace that power from San Onofre,” she says. “And that’s likely to include transmission, generation, including renewables and also advancing some of our resources that we’ve been hoping to accelerate and that is demand response and energy efficiency.”

“Demand response” includes using smart meters to utilize energy more efficiently. McCorkle says CALISO is working with the California Energy Commission and Public Utilities Commission on a plan to make up the 22 hundred megawatts of power San Onofre produced. That’s enough to power about 1.5 million homes.